Faecal Coliform Bacteria in Febros River (Northwest Portugal): Temporal Variation, Correlation with Water Parameters, and Species Identification

Febros river water was sampled weekly, during 35 successive weeks, and analyzed for microbiological (total coliforms, faecal coliforms, faecal streptococci and enterococci) and chemical-physical (ammonia and temperature) parameters. All microbiological parameters were highly correlated with each other and with ammonia, suggesting that the simultaneous determination of all variables currently in use in the evaluation of the microbiological quality of waters is probably redundant, and could be simplified, and that ammonia should be tested as a sentinel parameter of the microbiological pollution load of Febros river. From the strains isolated from positive tubes of the faecal coliforms test (multiple tube fermentation technique) and retested in this assay, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca and Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae strains were positive, indicating that the faecal coliforms test is not totally specific for Escherichia coli, and can detect other bacteria. Considering that these Klebsiella spp. are not necessarily of faecal origin, it was concluded that the faecal coliforms test can overestimate true faecal pollution. From the strains isolated from positive tubes of the faecal coliforms procedure, only Escherichia coli strains were clearly positive in the β-D-glucuronidase test. All other species were negative or very weakly positive, suggesting that the assay of the β-D-glucuronidase activity is less prone to false positives than the faecal coliforms test in the quantification of Escherichia coli in environmental waters.     

Quantification of nitrogen in the liquid fraction and in vitro assessment of lysine bioavailability in the solid fraction of soybean meal hydrolysates

Soybean meal (SBM) is a product generated from the manufacture of soybean oil and has the potential for use as a source of fermentable sugars for ethanol production or as a protein source for animal feeds. Knowing the levels of nitrogen available from ammonium is a necessary element of the ethanolic fermentation process while identifying the levels of essential amino acids such as lysine is important in determining usage as a feed source. As such the purpose of this study was to quantify total nitrogen and ammonium in the liquid fraction of hydrolyzed SBM and to evaluate total and bioavailable lysine in the solid fraction of the hydrolyzed SBM. The effects of acid concentration, cellulase and β-glucosidase on total and ammonium nitrogen were studied with analysis indicating that higher acid concentrations increased nitrogen compounds with ammonium concentrations ranging from 0.20 to 1.24 g L^?1 while enzymatic treatments did not significantly increase nitrogen levels. Total and bioavailable lysine was quantified by use of an auxotrophic gfpmut3 E.coli whole-cell bioassay organism incapable of lysine biosynthesis. Acid and enzymatic treatments were applied with lysine bioavailability increasing from a base of 82% for untreated SBM to up to 97%. Our results demonstrated that SBM has the potential to serve in ethanolic fermentation and as an optimal source essential amino acid lysine.     

PEM式臭氧消毒在地上游泳池水处理中的应用

采用臭氧法水处理系统对地上游泳池的循环水进行灭菌消毒,研究了臭氧用量、循环水流量和运行时间等因素对臭氧法灭菌效果的影响。结果表明,3组PEM臭氧发生器应用于21.2 m3的地上游泳池,在4 m3/h的循环水流量下运行12 h后,水中的细菌总数与大肠杆菌群数达到国家标准,去除率均在99%以上。与盐电解法水处理系统相比较,臭氧法水处理系统的优势在于:杀菌快速高效、出水水质的理化指标较好和运行费用低廉。     

Transport of fecal bacteria by boots and vehicle tires in a rural Alaskan community

People living without piped water and sewer can be at increased risk for diseases transmitted via the fecal-oral route. One rural Alaskan community that relies on hauling water into homes and sewage from homes was studied to determine the pathways of fecal contamination of drinking water and the human environment so that barriers can be established to protect health. Samples were tested for the fecal indicator, Escherichia coli, and the less specific indicator group, total coliforms. Shoes transported fecal contamination from outside to floor material inside buildings. Contamination in puddles on the road, in conjunction with contamination found on all-terrain vehicle (ATV) tires, supports vehicle traffic as a mechanism for transporting contamination from the dumpsite or other source areas to the rest of the community. The abundance of fecal bacteria transported around the community on shoes and ATV tires suggests that centralized measures for waste disposal as well as shoe removal in buildings could improve sanitation and health in the community.     

抗生素与LED209对大肠杆菌的联合毒性机制

抗生素是一把双刃剑,在提高医疗水平的同时会促进抗性基因的发展。群体感应抑制剂(quorum sensing inhibitors,QSIs)可有效地避免这一缺陷,有望成为抗生素的替代品而与抗生素有环境共存的可能,但目前尚缺乏它们的联合毒性机制及其相关的环境风险评价研究。本文以大肠杆菌为受试生物,测定了群体感应抑制剂N-苯基-4-(3-苯基硫代脲基)苯磺酰胺(LED209)与5种抗生素的单一和二元联合毒性。结果表明,LED209与5种抗生素的联合毒性作用均表现为拮抗,推测是LED209通过影响鞭毛合成,减弱了抗生素对大肠杆菌的生物有效性;同时通过拆分分子式,发现了拮抗作用可能源于LED209分子式中的含苯基和硫代脲基的L1分子,因此建议未来在LED209药物优化时,应尽可能的保留L1部分的基团,从而保证混合体系的最小环境风险。本研究不仅为联合用药提供依据,而且从环境风险评价角度为抗生素替代品LED209的结构优化提供理论指导。     

利用重组大肠杆菌SOS法评价污水厂出水的遗传毒性以及工艺去除效果

SOS/umu测试法被广泛应用于化合物和复杂混合物遗传毒性的评价,由于该技术所用菌种为致病菌且操作步骤繁琐等原因,制约了技术的推广应用。研究建立了基于重组大肠杆菌SOS效应的水质遗传毒性检测方法(专利号:ZL201110022476.1),应用该方法评价了某市4座污水厂出水的直接遗传毒性效应,同时以污水处理一厂为例考察了直接遗传毒性效应的季节变化规律以及不同的工艺对水中直接遗传毒性物质的去除情况。结果显示:各污水厂出水均表现出一定的直接遗传毒性,对应的4-NQO毒性当量浓度范围为0.018~0.514 mg·L-1;一年四季中夏季进出水直接遗传毒性效应最高,现有工艺中生化处理工艺段对直接遗传毒性去除效果最佳,去除率为33.33%。该方法操作便利、检测敏感性较高、操作危险性较低,可用于水中直接遗传毒性效应的测试。     

Detection of Class I and II integrons for the assessment of antibiotic and multidrug resistance among Escherichia coli isolates from agricultural irrigation waters in Bulacan,Philippines

Contaminated irrigation water may greatly affect not only the quality of produce but also the people exposed to it. In this study, agricultural irrigation waters in Bulacan, Philippines were assessed and found to be contaminated with Escherichia coli (E. coli) ranging from 0.58 to 4.51 log₁₀ CFU/mL. A total of 79 isolates of E. coli were confirmed through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifying the uidA gene and were tested for phenotypic resistance using 10 antimicrobials through the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method. Forty-six isolates (58.22%) were noted to be multidrug resistant (MDR) with high resistance rate to cephalothin, tetracycline, streptomycin, ampicillin, trimethoprim, nalidixic acid, and chloramphenicol. Moreover, this study also examined the prevalence of Class I and II integrons accounting to 67.39% and 17.39%, respectively, of the MDR E. coli strains using multiplex PCR. The results imply that the agricultural water used in Bulacan is contaminated with the fecal material of man or other animals present in the area, and the presence of MDR bacteria, which pose a potential threat to individuals in these areas, is alarming. In addition, detection of integrons could be a good marker for the identification of MDR isolates. Lastly, this study could develop strategies for the proper management of farming sites leading to the detection of food-borne pathogens and prevention of infectious diseases.     

氯消毒新工艺对大肠杆菌灭活作用的研究

研究了短时游离氯后转氯胺的联合消毒方法对大肠杆菌的灭活作用,并对其协同作用以及pH值和温度对协同作用的影响进行了探讨。结果表明：pH值在6．5～8范围内,温度不超过30℃时,短时游离氯后转氯胺的消毒方法对大肠杆菌的灭活具有协同作用,且随pH值的降低而加强,在低温下该方法的协同效果更加明显。     

Molecular and physiological characterization of fluoroquinolone resistance in relation to uropathogenicity among Escherichia coli isolates isolated from Wenyu River, China

Increasing antibacterial resistance and pathogenicity in the environment is of growing concern due to its potential human risk. In the present study, 236 Escherichia coli isolates were collected from Wenyu River in China on drugless (48 isolates) and quinolone-containing plates (189 isolates). Their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined ranging from 0.125 μg mL⁻¹ to 128 μg mL⁻¹. Mutation points related to fluoroquinolone resistance were observed at S83 to L and D87 to N or Y in the GyrA subunit and S80 to R or I and E84 to G in the ParC subunit. Generally, MICs of LEV and GAT are dependent on the patterns of these mutation points. The profile with three mutation points was related to LEV-resistant E. coli isolates, and the (S83L, D87N + S80I) mutation profile was most prevalent (65.7%) in LEV-resistant isolates, while a large proportion of isolates, even those with three mutation points, were susceptive to GAT. The incidence of virulence factors in LEV-resistant isolates (44.7%, 59/132) was much higher than in nonresistant isolates (23.1%, 24/104) (χ² = 11.925, 1° of freedom, p < 0.001) indicating that fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli would pose a potential risk. A similar distribution was also found in isolates resistant to GAT (χ² = 7.843, 1° of freedom, p = 0.0079).     

Novel application of the CORAL software to model cytotoxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles to bacteria Escherichia coli

Convenient to apply and available on the Internet software CORAL (http://www.insilico.eu/CORAL) has been used to build up quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) for prediction of cytotoxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles to bacteria Escherichia coli (minus logarithm of concentration for 50% effect pEC50). In this study six random splits of the data into the training and test set were examined. It has been shown that the CORAL provides a reliable tool that could be used to build up a QSAR of the pEC50.